Arriving at the Arctic Ocean

July 18^th, 2026

Inuvik, Northwest Territory

Woke at 8am and was still dead tired.

Sat at the desk in the room and must have fallen asleep again, as I suddenly woke again around 9am.

Took a shower and geared up.

Loaded the bike and checked out of the hotel

Rode a mile over to the local fuel station and filled the tank and the spare bag.

Then routed myself to the end of the road in Tuktoyaktuk and headed north.

Before I got out of town I caught site of a fox crossing the road, then saw two more sitting nearby a building.  While I was taking photos, another larger fox came from the other side of the road with a kill in its mouth and the 3 smaller ones went over and started fighting over the food.  Guessing parent feeding young?  Was good to watch and hopefully got it all on film.

Road just out of town as rough, and then a grader was in the process of making it even worse by digging up the small rocks and spreading loose, thick dirt all over the road.

After that the road improved a bit, but not for long.

As with other days, just massive wash board, pot holes and ruts.  Few spots where it would clear up or the gravel was gone and dirt was smoothed out.

Some spots they had put down a darker gravel, much smaller size and this were mostly smooth, but did not last long in most cases.

I stopped a few times to either piss or change something with the clothing.

On one stop I noticed my GoPro Max2 was wobbling really bad.  I inspected and sure enough, the RAM mount had broken from the vibration.  While it is still attached, it is no longer stable, so that ended my filming for the day except at the very end in town when I was going slow enough to risk it.

I will see if I can tape it up tomorrow (forgot to bring the tape inside tonight) and maybe I can still film some, otherwise might be end of the filming unless I can find another way to put the camera on the bike.

I knew I as close when I saw the Pingo Park viewing platform. Stopped to take a few photos and try to read the boards, but the mosquitos were insane.  Hundreds of them would swarm you when you were off the bike.

Rode a few more miles and the road became very thick with gravel, hard to keep the bike going in straight line.

Stopped at the Tuktoyaktuk sign to do my photo and then rode into town, which is still a few miles off.

Meandered my way through the town and finally reached the end of the land along the coast of the Arctic Ocean.

Did the photo with the sign, which another rider nearby offered to take for me.

I then did some more photos from a viewing deck near the campsites.  I had thought about camping, but when I looked closer, the sites were just rocky patches next to the sea wall with a spot for a fire and a bench.  I also noticed there was a cost to camp at them, and the place to pay was clear on the other side of town, and had looked closed when I came through.

Not sure what I will do, but decided to go eat first.

I stopped at a boat on display to do some photos, and then found Grandma’s Kitchen, which is kind of the place to eat in town.

You park up in a dirt lot and then order food at the window in a small trailer setup next to the house.  This is the kitchen.

You can then go into a small building nearby to find a table and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  

She tends to be busy, and as it is just her doing the orders, cooking, and bringing the food over, it does take some time.

Food arrived, spicy chicken and fries.  It was good, but costly.

Once done, you go back over to the trailers back door and pay for your meal.

I then walked out to the edge of the rocky shore (perhaps ¼ mile) to touch the Arctic with my hands.

I had thought about taking off the boots and wading into it, but the effort to get these damn things off and then back on, especially with damp feet was more than I was willing to put up with out on the edge with nothing but hard rocks to sit on, cold air, and tons of mosquitos.

Walked back and got the bike ready and then headed out.

I had more than enough fuel, so no need to stop here for any, just hit the road south and went.

I had been playing around on the way up trying to find why I could not keep my speed up, and I think I narrowed it down to the tires on the bike.

I had gone with a 50/50 tire as I still ride mostly on pavement back home.  While the tire has done okay in hard packed dirt and small grain gravels, it has shown it is not up to the larger rock gravels at all.  It is like riding on marbles.

As with the Dalton, the south bound lanes of the Dempster seemed to have less gravel build up, so I pushed the speed up past where I had been doing in the past, close to 50 mph.

This actually did smooth out much of the bumps from washboard, though some of the larger ones still hit the bike, but much less impact, other than vibration passing into my arms, that issue still persists.

The pot holes and large rocks and bumps still needed to be avoided, or you rapidly slow down and just bang into them and hope for the best.  Yeah, not the best way to ride, but it makes the trip much quicker.

The only issue was still the very loose gravel, which is mostly found on the curves and bottoms of hills and near bridges.

I did slow a few times just to give my body a rest as the vibration was still significant even at speed.

The suspension did seem to be acting normally at these speeds though, but not sure how well the speed and impacts were acting on it.

I finally slowed down when I hit a very deep patch of gravel (which was invisible to see it was that deep) right before a bridge.  Bike started to fish tail side to side and almost went down on me.  I immediately let off the throttle and just tried to keep it upright until I hit the pavement of the bridge (they are concrete slabs on this section of road).  That allowed me to brake then and traction on the tire kept me straight.

The last few miles into Inuvik were horrible where they had graded the road earlier.  While not as deep, the dirt was still very loose and thick in spots all across the road.

Arrived in Inuvik and went to the same hotel I had stayed at the night before.

Thankfully they still had a room open, though this time on the 2^nd floor, and the elevator button is broken for 2^nd floor, so have to take the stairs.

Got bike unloaded into the room and spent some time talking with a group of 4 riders I had met along the road.

They had been at same hotel last night, and left after me, but passed me not far outside of Tuk.  I then saw them at the Arctic sign and one of them is who offered to take my photos for me.

They were then at Grandmas Kitchen as well and spent some time talking with them.

They left first, but somehow ended up behind me, so must have stopped somewhere.  They passed me about half way back, but I kept them within sight after that as I really kept up the speed at this point and road was doing better going south.

They were going to go ahead and ride on the Fort McPherson for the night.

Once the bike was unloaded, secured, and covered, I walked over to the convenience store again to buy a few drinks and something to eat and I was not hungry enough to have a full meal again.

Then I decided to do laundry as when I asked earlier, they did have machines and they did not cost anything.  They also sold laundry soap since I do not have any more on me.  Cost $3 for two pods and some dryer sheets.  Only needed 1, so have some soaps for the next laundry day.

I took up the clothes and put them in the washer.  Both dyers were in use, but by time my clothes were done they were empty.

Put them into the dryer and let that run.

Worked on stuff online and cleaning gear while that was all going on.

Now the clothes are done and put away.

I will finish this blog entry and upload it and then head to bed.

Going to see if I can push all they way to Tombstone campground tomorrow, and hope they have spots open.  I do not want to reserve though in case I cannot make it, same with getting a room in Eagle Plains again.  Will just have to risk it and see where I end up.  Worst case I pull over somewhere and just sleep on the bike best I can for a few hours since there is very little space to put up a tent anywhere, but might be able to get bike on a small side road going to who knows.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route (round trip):